Hyundai Home Shopping "Rapid Growth in Live Commerce... Targeting 100 Billion KRW in Sales This Year"

'Shopping Live' Achieved 28.5 Billion KRW in Sales Last Year, Fivefold Growth from Previous Year
"Aiming for 100 Billion KRW in Sales This Year... Focusing on Workforce Expansion and Content Enhancement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Hyundai Home Shopping is strengthening its 'live commerce (selling products through mobile video live broadcasts)' business. The goal is to achieve sales of 100 billion KRW this year through workforce expansion and content enhancement.

Hyundai Home Shopping announced on the 26th that its live commerce business sales reached 28.5 billion KRW last year, growing more than fivefold compared to 5 billion KRW the previous year. The sales scale grew more than five times within just two years of launching. The cumulative annual viewers last year also reached 25 million. Previously, Hyundai Home Shopping entered the live commerce business by launching the 'Showping Live' corner within the Hyundai H Mall mobile app in November 2018.

Last year, sales and viewers per broadcast also increased significantly. The average sales per broadcast last year were 30 million KRW, doubling compared to 15 million KRW in 2019. The average viewers per broadcast also increased more than twice, reaching 20,000 to 30,000 compared to about 10,000 in 2019.

A Hyundai Home Shopping official said, "Since 2018, when the untact (non-face-to-face) trend began to spread mainly among the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) familiar with mobile, we have proactively developed competitiveness by making live commerce one of the next-generation growth engines." He added, "In particular, boldly applying the operational methods based on 20 years of TV home shopping experience to the relatively free-form live commerce broadcasts was effective." The operational methods incorporating TV home shopping expertise, nurturing specialized live commerce show hosts, and proactive broadcast expansion had a positive impact, he explained.

Fixed programs similar to general TV home shopping such as 'Uwa Show', 'Star Show', and 'Ultra Close Beauty Show' were introduced on Showping Live. Strengthening benefits such as card discounts during broadcasts received favorable responses from existing TV home shopping consumers. The sales per broadcast of these shows (30 million KRW) were on average 2 to 3 times higher than typical live commerce broadcasts (10 to 15 million KRW). The fixed viewers also reached 10,000 to 20,000.

The company also explained that operating the only live commerce specialized show hosts (Showmen, Showgirls) in the industry attracted positive responses from the 20s and 30s age group. A Hyundai Home Shopping official said, "These show hosts are skilled in hosting mukbang and unboxing, and respond quickly to various customer requests in the real-time chat window, making them preferred over influencers by both customers and partners." He added, "Through prior training, they present restrained expressions and accurate product explanations used in TV home shopping on live commerce, which also earns customer trust."

Hyundai Home Shopping increased broadcasts from 12 times per week in 2019 to 26 times per week last year. The broadcast time was also expanded from only the existing after-work hours (6 PM to 9 PM) to morning hours (10 AM to 1 PM).

Hyundai Home Shopping plans to further accelerate the expansion of its live commerce business this year. It plans to add about 10 live commerce operation personnel in the first half of this year and double the number of specialized show hosts. The number of Showping Live broadcasts will also increase to more than 50 times per week, and fixed programs will expand from the current 7 to 15. Additionally, it will strengthen media content through collaboration with the beauty MCN 'Different Millions', in which it invested 12 billion KRW last year. Hyundai Home Shopping aims to grow the live commerce business sales scale to the 100 billion KRW level this year.

Hong Sung-il, Executive Director of Hyundai Home Shopping H Mall Business Division, said, "We plan to focus on nurturing 'Showping Live' as the 'fourth channel' comparable to existing TV home shopping, Hyundai H Mall (online mall), and Hyundai Home Shopping Plus Shop (T-commerce)." He added, "We will continuously discover and introduce live commerce exclusive products and customized content."